PL: Arsenal v Manchester City | Sunday, February 21 | KO: 16:30 UTC | Sky Sports

[Riou]

Yeah, reminded me a bit of the Villa away game at the end of last season.

We just beat City in the semi and had Chelsea in the final a few weeks away, players and manager didn't seem to care really.

Wouldn't be shocked if Arteta did actually ask Pep at halftime to just pass it around, as nothing really happened in the second half

 

[OnlyOne]

Yeah thats a good point because it did feel like a game we weren’t really arsed about and wanted to keep the score down from line up to performance.

City have a CL game so once they started conserving energy the game was played at walking pace for the final thirty minutes.

It’s just when I watched that Leicester game the likes of Maddison, Barnes and Vardy kept running into the box at the City defenders.

Yesterday the likes of Saka, Lacazette and Ødegaard just didn’t seem like they wanted to do it. We’d either have Xhaka trying to cross from in front of the City defence or we’d spam it to Tierney on the left.

Dias and Stones could just set up in the box and head balls out all day. It’s not even like we’ve got a slow team but they don’t seem like they want to stretch the opposition.

Perfect example was when Saka was leading a break first half and Auba made an incredible run between the two centre backs. If that’s Leicester and Vardy it’s getting slid into space so he can either shoot or panic the defender and win a penalty.

Saka though cuts back inside again and tries to switch it across the penalty area to Pepe where it gets cut out. We always look to play it wide rather than go direct and punch teams in the mouth.

I don't actually know what the game plan was in fairness but all I think before these games is how I wish it meant something. You remember a couple years back when it was Liverpool vs City and there was that goal line clearance from Bobby's shot? That game must of been unreal going into knowing you can go toe to toe with City. 1st vs 2nd, ended up losing the league by a point.

I just want the day when we can play big teams on our terms.

 

[DUFFMAN]

Honest question, how did Leicester manage to spank City at the Etihad but we didn’t create one chance at home?

Like what about their game plan could we not try? I don’t expect us to score or get a result but yesterday didn’t feel like a contest. Was like a training game.

City were going through a bad patch then.

People even saying Pep was finished.

Now they are on a 17 game streak.

Once again a silly point like how come Leicester can beat City but we can't is brought up to bash Arteta.

We beat city last season with Arteta.

 

[Rex Stone]

I don't actually know what the game plan was in fairness but all I think before these games is how I wish it meant something. You remember a couple years back when it was Liverpool vs City and there was that goal line clearance from Bobby's shot? That game must of been unreal going into knowing you can go toe to toe with City. 1st vs 2nd, ended up losing the league by a point.

I just want the day when we can play big teams on our terms.

Yeah exactly. I just want it to feel like we were in a contest rather than get told by everyone on Twitter and on here it was a masterclass to create nothing but only concede once.

City were going through a bad patch then.

People even saying Pep was finished.

Now they are on a 17 game streak.

Once again a silly point like how come Leicester can beat City but we can't is brought up to bash Arteta.

We beat city last season with Arteta.

Literally not saying I expected us to score 5 goals or even to win but the way they play troubles every team they come up against.

Us meanwhile are camped in our own half and praying we get a jammy goal in big games. We never seem to stretch big opponents.

If you stop Tierney you stop us. There was absolutely no threat at all yesterday. As Alex Scott said we could’ve played for another two hours and not scored.

 

[<<reed>>]

Yeah, reminded me a bit of the Villa away game at the end of last season.

We just beat City in the semi and had Chelsea in the final a few weeks away, players and manager didn't seem to care really.

Actually it was the second Arteta disasterclass after the Olympiacos fiasco, winning the Villa game was giving us the EL football, but he bottled it and put extra pressure on the FA Cup final.

 

[OnlyOne]

End of the day if we're being honest with ourselves, it was clear we were happy to lose 1-0. We never ever risked losing 2-0 to make it 1-1 and that was the worry.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Our biggest handicap in an attack sense atm is our lack of movement off the ball. Occasionally Saka or Pepe will dart in behind, but its too few and far between.

I was looking at Citeh yesterday. Gundogan, Bernando Silva, Mahrez, Jesus when he came on.. they all looked to get in behind and made clever runs off the ball. Now, I know we dont have the same standard of player but we can at least try and be better with what we have.

Xhaka often gets his head up and there's like two options, either play it wide to Tierney or drop it off short of Elneny. We need to mix it up. Xhaka can kill opposition teams with his passing but we rarely give him the opportunity to do so.

 

[Rimaal]

She's a Kuwaiti princess IIRC from my time in this forum
@Rimaal

Princess of the Arsenal supporters clan, Goonerville.

 

[Legend14]

Who prepares the team for the match? Do you think they all sit around and play Fortnite all week?

If the preparations aren't right in the week, that will have an effect on the game.

How do you prepare for Raheem Sterling to out jump Rob Holding?

 

[squallman]

How do you prepare for Raheem Sterling to out jump Rob Holding?

Then are you saying the manager is never at fault?

This isn't the 50s anymore when the players were guys who worked a day job at the factory half the time. Believe it or not, clubs spend the entire week going through intense preparations for games.

Normally, a member of the coaching staff prepares a tape for the player of his direct opponent, what he does, where he likes to operate on the pitch etc in order to prepare him. IF there is no tape, then someone will tell him. "Robben likes to cut inside so try and show him the outside"

You cannot prepare for every eventuality but you can minimise the chances of things happening.

Arsenal is a team, if Arteta's tactics are great when we win, then he has to take some of the blame when we lose. We win together, we lose together. A defeat is never 100% on the players or the manager.

Did Ferguson have nothing to do with the 1999 CL victory against Bayern? I'm sure he didn't tell them to wait till injury time to score goals in order to create excitement.

Also ask yourself, Arteta isn't to blame for the goal fine. What did he do after that to get us back in the game in terms of substitutions or adjusting tactics? A manager's imprint is all over the game. I honestly can't believe you're trying to argue that Arteta had absolutely nothing to do with the defeat.

 

[GDeep™]

Anyone feel this was one of our worst defeats ever given how pathetic we were? We’ve been battered in the past badly, but atleast we’ve tried to play football and do something.

Really down after yesterday.

 

[GDeep™]

You don’t want to overreact but nobody can make a case for what we saw yesterday.

 

[avenellroad]

Anyone feel this was one of our worst defeats ever given how pathetic we were? We’ve been battered in the past badly, but atleast we’ve tried to play football and do something.

Really down after yesterday.

Think I just expect more of Arsenal as a football club. I wouldn’t have minded getting battered if we at least went for it like we did under Wenger.

Yesterday was just apathetic crap. Against a club we used to slap back in the Invincible days. At least give them a game and make them work for the victory ffs

 

[kash2]

Anyone feel this was one of our worst defeats ever given how pathetic we were? We’ve been battered in the past badly, but atleast we’ve tried to play football and do something.

Really down after yesterday.

there was a little period before the half time whistle where we were starting to get to grips. Too much caution and timidity in the instructions and team setup though.

All I ask is that Arsenal keep me glued to the action. The whole second half was totally forgettable. Only Saka kept me interested as he might have done something all on his own and kept trying.

 

[Legend14]

Anyone feel this was one of our worst defeats ever given how pathetic we were? We’ve been battered in the past badly, but atleast we’ve tried to play football and do something.

Really down after yesterday.

Agreed. It was miserable because we did not try to win. Why show up? Why did City show up? We basically wasted their time.

 

[Legend14]

Then are you saying the manager is never at fault?

This isn't the 50s anymore when the players were guys who worked a day job at the factory half the time. Believe it or not, clubs spend the entire week going through intense preparations for games.

Normally, a member of the coaching staff prepares a tape for the player of his direct opponent, what he does, where he likes to operate on the pitch etc in order to prepare him. IF there is no tape, then someone will tell him. "Robben likes to cut inside so try and show him the outside"

You cannot prepare for every eventuality but you can minimise the chances of things happening.

Arsenal is a team, if Arteta's tactics are great when we win, then he has to take some of the blame when we lose. We win together, we lose together. A defeat is never 100% on the players or the manager.

Did Ferguson have nothing to do with the 1999 CL victory against Bayern? I'm sure he didn't tell them to wait till injury time to score goals in order to create excitement.

Also ask yourself, Arteta isn't to blame for the goal fine. What did he do after that to get us back in the game in terms of substitutions or adjusting tactics? A manager's imprint is all over the game. I honestly can't believe you're trying to argue that Arteta had absolutely nothing to do with the defeat.

No, plenty is on the manager for the game strategy, but no manager has ever prevented me from playing well. I would never blame the manager for my technical or mental mistakes; it’s a bit cowardly IMO. Some players were simply horrible yesterday.

Ferguson had an amazing team of winners. Wenger the same. I think you could send those teams out on the pitch and sit on your bum and drink lemonade as a manager. Those players had personal pride - the thing that is lacking in our midtable, mediocre side. How much in game managing are you really doing? They are not inanimate chess pieces.

 

[Riou]

Anyone feel this was one of our worst defeats ever given how pathetic we were?

You don’t want to overreact

I know what you mean, but these posts being one after the other, just killed me!

 

[Big Poppa]

Our biggest handicap in an attack sense atm is our lack of movement off the ball. Occasionally Saka or Pepe will dart in behind, but its too few and far between.

I was looking at Citeh yesterday. Gundogan, Bernando Silva, Mahrez, Jesus when he came on.. they all looked to get in behind and made clever runs off the ball. Now, I know we dont have the same standard of player but we can at least try and be better with what we have.

Xhaka often gets his head up and there's like two options, either play it wide to Tierney or drop it off short of Elneny. We need to mix it up. Xhaka can kill opposition teams with his passing but we rarely give him the opportunity to do so.

Because by the time he gets it out of his feet, the runners have gone offside

 

[squallman]

Because by the time he gets it out of his feet, the runners have gone offside

Is this after he turns around, passes it back to Leno and then receives the the ball again?

 

[MartiSaka]

Fairly cowardly performance. We just have no ability to lift a gear when needed, such as chasing a game in the last 20 mins. Always going to be difficult against City but even against other teams, it has been the same problem. May as well turn off the game with 20 mins to go if we are behind at that time.